1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to rifle barrel cleaning devices, and, more particularly, to such devices known as bore jags.
Bore jags are rifle barrel cleaning devices which are secured to the end of a rod for insertion into the barrel of a rifle. In use of such bore jags, a cleaning cloth, impregnated with a suitable liquid, for example, oil or a special barrel cleaning liquid, is wrapped around the bore jag, which is provided at one end of a rod. This rod is then employed to push the bore jag, with the surrounding cleaning cloth, into and along the bore of a rifle barrel.
When possible, i.e., depending on the type of rifle being cleaned, the bore jag and its cleaning cloth are inserted into the rifle barrel from the breach end of the barrel. In other case, however, it is necessary to insert the bore jag and its cleaning cloth from the muzzle end of the barrel.
In the first case, the bore jag is usually pushed along the rifle barrel until it exits the barrel at the muzzle end, whereupon the cleaning cloth drops from the bore jag. The direction of movement of the rod is then reversed, to pull the bore jag back into the rifle barrel.
2. Description of Related Art
In cases where the bore jag is inserted into the rifle barrel of the muzzle end of the rifle barrel, then it is sometimes necessary to ensure that, when the direction of movement of the rod is subsequently reversed in order to move the bore jag back towards the muzzle end of the rifle barrel and, eventually, to remove the bore jag entirely from the rifle barrel, the cleaning cloth is retained on the bore jag, so that it does not remain in the rifle. For that purpose, prior art bore jags have been formed with a plurality of frusto-conical barbs, which are coaxial with the bore jag itself and which taper towards the front or leading end of the bore jag as the latter is initially advanced into the rifle barrel. These barbs serve to catch and retain the cleaning cloth, wrapped around the bore jag, when the bore jag is eventually withdrawn from the rifle barrel, so that the cleaning cloth is likewise withdrawn with the bore jag from the rifle barrel.
When such a bore jag is employed for the purpose of cleaning a rifle barrel as described above, then it is highly desirable to ensure that the bore jag does not scrape along the rifling of the rifle barrel, since such scraping would damage the rifling. Furthermore, in the cases when, as described above, the bore jag is inserted into the rifle barrel from the breach end until it eventually exists the opposite or muzzle end of the rifle barrel, it is highly desirable to ensure that the muzzle crown is not damaged by the barbs of the bore jag when the movement of the cleaning rod is reversed in order to draw the bore jag back into the rifle barrel past the muzzle crown.